Father, son could be in field at Kansas Speedway

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. — With a strong performance in Friday night’s SFP 250, 20-year-old Ryan Blaney, who is just four points off the lead, could leave Kansas Speedway as the points leader in the NASCAR Camping World Series.

But the highlight of the weekend figures to be Saturday night when Blaney is scheduled to make his Sprint Cup debut.

Blaney, who will drive the No. 12 Ford for Penske Racing in the Cup series, will have to qualify for Saturday’s race, but there are only 44 cars vying for 43 spots which gives Blaney a good shot at being in the field for the 6:30 p.m. Cup race.

“You're just antsy for it to happen,” Blaney said. “You just want it to get here and you just want to make your debut and hopefully it goes well. It’s definitely something you look forward to and it's where every kid wants to be growing up watching NASCAR and watching his dad race everything.

“You wait your whole life for this opportunity and you definitely have to make the most of it. I’m just fortunate that Penske was kind enough to give me this opportunity, so hopefully we can make the most of it.”

Adding luster to Saturday night’s debut is the fact that Ryan and his father, NASCAR veteran Dave, are likely to both be in the race, adding the Blaneys to an exclusive list of fathers and sons who have raced in the same race in NASCAR’s premier series.

“Just to be part of that list I think would be really cool,” said Ryan, who has already won in the Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series. "I think I read that the last time it was done was the Hamiltons (Bobby and Bobby Jr.) in 2005 or something like that, so to be part of that list would be really cool.

“We got to run the truck race at Eldora (Ohio) last year together and that was a blast and hopefully we can both make the race and get to run around together a little bit maybe.”

Ryan Blaney knows that making the transition to the longer Cup races will be an adjustment, but he’s ready for it.

“I’ve known for a few months (that he was going to race Saturday) and have had some time to prepare for it and we tested Nashville a couple of weeks ago with this whole team,” he said. “You’ve definitely got to have a different mindset, with it pretty much being twice as long as a truck race, and adapt.

“It’s a whole different race and you have to pace yourself a little different way. In the truck series we get one or two pit stops a race and in the Cup series you can get five or six. It just gives (the team) more opportunities to work on the race car more opportunity to get better, so that’s definitely something you have to get used to.”

Blaney’s goal is to stay around for the duration Saturday night.

“You hope you can get experience and run all 400 miles and not do anything foolish and hopefully get a good finish out of it,” he said.

Qualifying for Saturday’s 5-hour ENERGY 400 is set for 5:40 p.m. Friday, followed by the SFP 250.